People from at least 34 communities came to Concord yesterday to speak up for NH students and taxpayers.  Carrying signs with slogans like “Equity for Pittsfield”, “Fully Fund Fremont”, and “NH Kids Can’t Wait”, participants were motivated by their conviction that the current education funding system unfairly disadvantages students and taxpayers in many communities.  People even came from “property-wealthy” towns, in the belief that all NH kids deserve a fair shake.  Their mission:  persuade legislators that it’s time to live up to the promise of the Claremont decision.

It’s been more than two decades since the NH Supreme Court ordered lawmakers to develop a school funding structure that offers all students the opportunity for a state-funded, constitutionally adequate education, paid for by taxes that have a uniform rate across the state.  Yet the inequities remain, and in recent years state funding for schools has actually shrunk.  Many school districts are in crisis, and some have had to shutter schools, eliminate language, arts and AP courses, and/or lay off necessary staff.  Meanwhile, property tax increases have forced taxpayers in some communities out of their homes.

As lawmakers on the budget negotiation committee arrived at the Capitol yesterday, they found people from all corners of the state urging them to step up and find a sustainable solution to the school funding crisis.  Twenty-five years after the Claremont decision, it’s way past time.